Saturday, January 21, 2017
Bicyclists Could be Impacted by Bus Route Changes
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| Image: Washington Post/Dr Gridlock |
Tell us what you think!
Provide your feedback by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, February 6, 2017:
See the Dr. Gridlock column, Metro budget proposal kills 14 bus lines. For details of the proposed changes see the WMATA page Fiscal Year 2018 proposed service adjustmentsProvide your feedback by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, February 6, 2017:
- Take the survey online. You may also download and fill out the survey then drop it in the survey collection bins near the faregates at your nearest Metrorail station.
- Meet with Metro staff at Metrorail stations to ask questions, take the survey and provide feedback.
- Attend an open house from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and public hearing starting at 5:00 p.m. at Metro Headquarters, 600 5th Street NW, Washington DC on Monday, January 30, 2017. Speaker registration is onsite only and will close at 9:00 p.m.Public feedback will be provided to Metro's Board of Directors in March 2017 as part of the final decision making process. Any Board-approved fare or service changes will begin on July 1, 2017.
A number of bicyclists and pedestrians are going to be directly affected by the budget plans and revisions, in particular the reduction in bus routes and increase in fares. We know that if you buses are more affordable, ridership increases. One minor direct example of this has occurred in 2016 in Annandale, where, at least from anecdotal evidence, the 16 series from the Pentagon to Annandale along Columbia Pike is not as crowded as it used to be. Why? WMATA lowered the price of the 29C/G bus (Pentagon-Annandale-via 395) from Express levels ($4 presently, proposed to be $4.25) to Local levels ($1.75 presently, proposed to be $2.00). Curiously, people seem to prefer a faster inexpensive bus to a slower inexpensive bus.
The 29C/G bus is now frequently standing-room only on the way to the Pentagon and is frequently full on the way back to Annandale. It probably has picked up ridership from some of the long-haul 16 Annandale lines, like the 16A/B/E/L lines, as well as some from the 29K/N lines to the King Street metro. It may have increased ridership in general as well. It also may have picked up ridership from the 17A/B/M routes that parallel some of the route. Those 17 A/B/M routes, by the way, remain at the Express $4 fare, and, based on ridership numbers, are among the routes proposed to be cut.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Safetrack Surge #8 Underway - Franconia-Springfield to Van Dorn St
According to WMATA's Surge #8 page there will be continuous single-tracking between the two stations during that period, and NO weekend service. Free shuttle bus service will be provided on the weekends.
There are a couple of routes that bicyclists can use. Google Maps bicycle directions between Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn St is a 4.2 mile route. Cyclists could then park at Van Dorn St and take Metro from there. Cyclists could also ride an 8.5 mile route between Franconia-Springfield and King St station.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Metro's SafeTrack Program and Bicycling - Update2
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| Photo: Fairfax County |
Bike Commuting - One significant advantage of traveling by bike is knowing how long it takes to get to your destination. It may take longer to ride than some other options but at least you can plan accordingly. Most Fairfax commuters travel long distances so it may not be feasible to complete your full commute by bike. However, bikes are a great way to connect non-Metro travel options. You could ride to the bus stop, put your bike on the rack on the front of the bus, then reverse the process at the other end of your bus ride.
Folding bikes can be taken on Metro during all operating hours and they give you yet another option during unscheduled delays. Full-size bikes cannot be taken on trains during peak hours (7-10 am and 4-7 pm). See WMATA's Bikes and Metro page. Fairfax Connector and Metro buses have bike racks, so combining bikes and buses greatly extends your trip.
Use WMATA's Trip Planner to learn about Metro bus and train options (including Fairfax Connector buses) and to estimate travel times. We've been told that Trip Planner travel times will include SafeTrack delays. Use Google Maps bike directions and Fairfax County's interactive bike map to find possible bike routes.
If you'd like more info on strategies for bike commuting, including advice on equipment, clothing, and finding the best routes, contact FABB.
Capital Bikeshare - Bikeshare bikes are available at many of the Metro stations where single-tracking will occur. See the CaBi Station map for details. You must be a CaBi member to check out a bike. Several membership options are available: 24-hour ($8), 3-day ($17), 30-day ($28), or Annual ($85). All rides lasting under 30 minutes are free. See the CaBi How it Works page for details.
Update - June 2 - WABA recently published their page How to Bike During SafeTrack. WABA is also looking for volunteers to support biking during SafeTrack.
Update 2 - June 3 - WMATA has bike info on their SafeTrack Surge #1 page:
- Arlington County is installing a Bikeshare station at the East Falls Church Metrorail station, and capacity will be added to the Bikeshare stations at Ballston and Rosslyn stations. Most Metrorail stations have a Bikeshare stand nearby. One-day, three-day, monthly, and yearly memberships are available.
- Consider bicycling to Ballston, Virginia Square, and other stations to the east, where more trains will be running and provide a good chance of getting space on board. Added bicycle parking will be available at Ballston.
- For customers at McLean, Vienna, West Falls Church, and East Falls Church, consider taking the W&OD and Custis Trails to Ballston station. The W&OD trail is within a half-mile of those stations, and leads to Ballston. The route to the station will be signed clearly. WABA has posted bike-friendly routes to and from these stations to the trail.
- Customers who normally bike to Wiehle-Reston East station should consider riding and parking at the North Reston and Herndon-Monroe Park & Rides, where enhanced express bus service will be available.
Labels: bike commuting, capital bikeshare, safetrack, wmata
Friday, February 12, 2016
Three Weeks After Snowzilla, Trails and Sidewalks Still Blocked
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| Ice blocking FFX Co Parkway Trail near W&OD trail, which was cleared by NOVA Parks shortly after the storm. |
The Board of Supervisors will hold a snow summit at their March 1 board meeting. We're encouraged that according to Reston Now, "Bulova, as well as other supervisors, pointed out that the need for pedestrian access has increased greatly in the last 20 years as the county has gotten more urban. That is especially true in Reston, where a new Metro station — which requires various forms of rider access, including pedestrian, saw its first major storm since opening in summer 2014."
The county needs to develop a plan, in conjunction with VDOT, to provide safe pedestrian and bike access to major destinations such as Metro stations, schools, and our major transportation trails such as the Fairfax County Parkway and others. FABB is willing to help develop the plan.
VDOT had an incredible challenge with the latest snow; we understand that. However, it's inexcusable that bicycle and pedestrian access is blocked for a month at some key locations. We've heard the argument that VDOT doesn't have the equipment to clear snow on trails and sidewalks. VDOT works with contractors who do have the equipment that could be used. See the NBC4 video of VDOT contractors clearing a sidewalk after residents complained.
The county should develop a plan before next winter. Waiting for the snow to melt is not an appropriate strategy:
- Identify important sections of major commuter trails to be cleared of snow and ice (NOVA Parks now clears the W&OD Trail)
- Require property owners within 1/4 mile of schools to clear trails and sidewalks
- Work with FCPS maintenance crews to extend their snow clearing to adjacent properties
- Work with WMATA to extend their snow clearing to adjacent trails and sidewalks
- Work with VDOT to designate where snow should not be dumped
- Work with VDOT to clear debris from snow clearing on bike lanes and trails
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| FFX Co Parkway Trail at W&OD Trail Shoulder was cleared by dumping snow on trail. |
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| Ice piled 6 feet high adjacent to Langston Hughes MS, South Lakes HS and Terraset ES. We see students walking in the street every day before and after school. The snow was cleared to allow on-street car parking. |
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| WMATA snow clearing equipment sitting idle while trails and sidewalks leading to the station are blocked. |
Labels: snow plowing, snow summit, snowzilla, wmata
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Safety First, Expansion Later - Double Standard?
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| AP Photo/Andrew Harnik |
Replace "Metro" with "regional DOT" in the following statements by Sec. Foxx and imagine what an impact this would have on traffic safety, a much more serious problem in the DC Metro area:
"the Department of Transportation will continue to restrict federal funding to Metro’s [regional DOT's] ongoing safety and state-of-good repair projects, not expansion.
“When we are comfortable they’ve achieved levels of safety that are commensurate with what the traveling public should expect, and until that time they are going to be focusing on safety,” Foxx said.
Foxx said expanding capacity eventually may be necessary, but federal funding will not start paying for new stuff until Metro [regional DOTs] fixes what it already has.
“Over the long, long, long haul, this is a growing area and obviously there will be pressures on the system to grow in the future, but that future right now is far off because the focus needs to be on safety,” he said.
Hat tip to GGW where I first heard this idea mentioned.“When we are comfortable they’ve achieved levels of safety that are commensurate with what the traveling public should expect, and until that time they are going to be focusing on safety,” Foxx said.
Foxx said expanding capacity eventually may be necessary, but federal funding will not start paying for new stuff until Metro [regional DOTs] fixes what it already has.
“Over the long, long, long haul, this is a growing area and obviously there will be pressures on the system to grow in the future, but that future right now is far off because the focus needs to be on safety,” he said.
Labels: Metro, traffic safety, wmata
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
WUSA9 report on bike parking at McLean Metro station - Update
We've heard that bicycle parking at the McLean Metro station regularly fills up by 9 a.m. most days. There is room for 26 bikes on both sides of Route 123 and the racks on the south/east side are the ones that fill up. Those on the north/west side are difficult to reach and there are few residents on that side of 123 to use the racks.Martin DiCaro of WUSA9 TV interviewed Navid Roshan-Afshar of The Tysons Corner and me to discuss bike and auto parking at the McLean station. See his story Bike parking shortage along Silver Line. The 700 space private lot is mostly empty. The good news is that WMATA plans to add more bike parking in the near future.
Labels: bike parking, mclean station, wmata
Monday, July 28, 2014
Lots of bikes at Wiehle station on Monday
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| Bikes parked in the free bike parking outside the Wiehle bike room |
There was a bike parked in every rack at the free bike parking just outside the bike room. Each rack holds two bikes so there was still room for more bikes. I believe there are 16 racks in that space.
There were several bikes parked in the secure bike room although there was room for many more. The room can hold over 200 bikes, and the racks can be reconfigured to hold additional bikes by replacing the single inverted U racks with the vertical racks.
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| Bikes parked in the Wiehle bike room |
It looks like there is considerable demand for bike parking at the Wiehle station. For those who cannot find free parking, the bike room works out to costing around 25 cents/day if you use it on a daily basis ($60/year plus one-time $15 processing and fob fee). Eventually there will also be several bike racks installed on the plaza outside the station entrance.
The one comment I heard was from a woman who said that the bike room entry door was a little hard to hold open while walking a bike. An automated or auto-assist door would be much easier for cyclists entering the room.
WMATA is renting the bike lockers at the Wiehele and Tysons stations with the exceptions of those lockers on the north side of the Spring Hill station that are located on county property. This is the last message we heard from WMATA regarding rental of those lockers: "We are not ready to sign up bike locker patrons." Not sure what the problem is since the lockers are in place and seem ready to be used.
Congratulations to Fairfax County for having the foresight to work with the property developer, Comstock Partners, to build the bike room and
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| Racks on south side of Wiehle station |
Labels: Silver line, wiehle station, wiehle station bike room, wmata
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Bike stair channel installed at Glenmont Metrorail station
Navigating stairs with a bicycle is a challenge. One solution that I've seen used extensively in Europe is a stair channel, a narrow ramp adjacent to the stairs that allows cyclists to walk their bike up or down the stairs. WMATA recently installed a stair channel at the Glenmont Metrorail station. The first stair channel was installed a the Rhode Island station. See the video below for a demonstration of how it works.Labels: glenmont station, stair channel, wmata
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Beware of the 3T Tysons bus
The driver was stopped and she opened the door and asked what I said. I explained that she needed to give me at least 2 feet when passing. She said that it was OK because she saw me, in fact, how could she not see me "with that silly ass hat" I was wearing.
She then said "F$%k You, I don't care who you call" or something along those lines, although there was not doubt about the first two words. The signal changed and the driver proceeded to come completely into my lane. Had I proceeded forward she would have taken me out.
I recorded her bus number, 3024, and immediately called the WMATA customer service number to complain. The operator was very sympathetic and apologetic. She said she would pass on my information. I asked to be notified about any actions taken against the driver.
The following day I received a message from a WMATA rep who said "The information that you have provided will help us to identify the operator so that we can take the proper action. The operator will be interviewed and reinstructed in her duties. Safe and courteous service is the responsibility of every Metro employee and conduct that deviates from that will not be tolerated." I thanked the rep and asked to be informed of what actions were taken. A few days later I called to ask again and was told that the rep had not been contacted by the driver's supervisor.
All I can assume is that nothing was done to the driver. She obviously had an attitude about bicyclists and didn't care much about my personal safety. I'll continue to follow up with WMATA. I was surprised that a WMATA employee would make derogatory comments about my personal appearance and shout obscenities at me while stopped in the middle of the road with a bus full of passengers.
If you're riding in the Tysons area and see a 3T bus, beware. It could be driver by an angry woman who doesn't think much about bicyclists.
Labels: 3T, pimmit hills, wmata
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Biking to Tysons Metro stations
The Tysons Bike Group meeting is open to everyone and will be held at noon on Tuesday, April 16 at PricewaterhouseCoopers, 1800 Tysons Blvd. If you would like to attend the meeting please RSVP to chairman at fabb-bikes . org. Plan to arrive at the PwC building to allow time to sign in and be escorted to the meeting room. While lunch is not provided you are welcome to bring lunch to the meeting.
Labels: Tysons, tysons bike group, wmata
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Converting trips to Metro stations from car to bike/walk trips
In recent years WMATA has improved bike parking at many of their stations. However, bike/ped access to the stations from surrounding areas has not often been a high priority. That is changing. From the PlanIt Metro blog:
In our effort to improve safety, access and sustainability, Metro is expanding our understanding of bike and pedestrian barriers faced in commuting to our Metrorail stations. Over the past several years, we have focused our bike and pedestrian project planning and implementation efforts on improvements we can make to our station areas such as, installing bike racks or constructing pedestrian improvements. Now, we’d like to expand the envelope and develop a list of access needs beyond our own boundaries and work with our jurisdictional partners to make needed improvements.
One way we are doing this is by gaining a better understanding of where auto commuters come from when they drive to our stations, and zeroing in on areas where we see a good deal of auto access to determine if there are barriers to walking or biking to the station.
The map at right (full version) shows auto-to-station “hot spots” around the Forest Glen station, to pick one example, locations from which clusters of customers drive and park at Metro. According to the 2007 Metrorail Passenger Survey data, many customers drive from within a 1-3 mile radius; some are even closer. So why are so many people from this area driving? In our 2010 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, we teased out some of the more broad-based reasons why people drive rather than walk or bike – now we’d like to explore each station’s local conditions and see what can be done to improve walk and bike access.
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| Heat map showing short-distance parking access at Forest Glen station, which indicates good opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle access (click for full map) |
The map at right (full version) shows auto-to-station “hot spots” around the Forest Glen station, to pick one example, locations from which clusters of customers drive and park at Metro. According to the 2007 Metrorail Passenger Survey data, many customers drive from within a 1-3 mile radius; some are even closer. So why are so many people from this area driving? In our 2010 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, we teased out some of the more broad-based reasons why people drive rather than walk or bike – now we’d like to explore each station’s local conditions and see what can be done to improve walk and bike access.
Labels: Metro, planit metro, wmata
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Bicycle access to Dunn Loring Metro station
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| Ponded water on Dunn Loring Metro station sidewalk |
Bicycle access to the site from the north is via the bike lanes on Gallows Road that turn into a multi-use trail on the west side, or by using Gallows Road itself. Unfortunately the trail on the south side of the I-66 bridge was recently replaced by two narrow sidewalks that split. One leads to the bus stop and the other leads to the station entrance.
The photo on the right, looking north toward the Gallows Road bridge over I-66, shows the split in the trial. It also shows ponding of water that metro customers must to wade through after a heavy rain.
When we first visited the site we made the mistake of trying to ride from one sidewalk to the next. There's a lip on the sidewalk edges that caught my front wheel and I took a slow-speed tumble.
We've reported these conditions to the folks at WMATA who were very responsive. They said this is a temporary situation, that eventually there will be a wide sidewalk replacing the two narrow sidewalks. They also said that a clogged drain has been fixed so that water no longer ponds here. We're planning to meet next week with WMATA staff and the developer to see what can be done about the narrow sidewalks. I'll likely suggest that the triangular section between the sidewalks be filled with concrete to create a wide sidewalk.
Labels: dunn loring, wmata
Friday, August 31, 2012
WMATA releases 2012 bike parking survey data
WMATA has been doing a good job recently of adding bike parking capacity.
These counts show that we are moving in the right direction, but more work remains. We generally have enough bike parking capacity at nearly all stations, but not all stations see equal usage. One missing piece could be bike-friendly infrastructure around the stations to allow bike-to-rail customers to comfortably and safely access stations. So, we’ll work with our jurisdictions to improve paths, crossings, and other infrastructure outside Metro’s immediate property. But you tell us – what do you see as obstacles to biking to your Metrorail station?
Here is a summary of the overall findings:- Bike parking usage in 2012 is up 3% from last year
- Bike parking capacity is up significantly, thanks to newly-installed bike racks near Metrorail station, including racks with capacity for over 300 installed by Metro staff.
- Now, 85 of 86 stations (all but Arlington Cemetery) have bike racks available.
- We now count over 4,000 bike parking spaces near Metrorail stations.
- Many stations where we recently added new racks saw some uptick in usage (e.g., Braddock Road 19% increase in usage, Takoma 24%, West Hyattsville 13%) over last year, but some did not.Generally, there may be enough year-to-year variability with these "snapshot" data that it can be difficult to identify detailed trends.
- Parking near downtown stations may have declined somewhat versus last year.This might be one impact of Capital Bikeshare.
- We found six stations where total bikes parked exceeded 100% of rack capacity.Metro staff will take action at these stations where we can, but in other situations where we do not own the land or the racks, we will work actively with our station-area partners.
- Twenty-five stations had at least 3 bikes secured/locked to things other than racks.Securing a bike to a railing can obstruct those who need the railing — or can block an accessible path — and is strongly discouraged or even illegal in some jurisdictions. Securing a bike to a tree can damage or kill it. At station areas where cyclists are securing bikes to objects other than racks because of inadequate bike parking capacity, Metro staff will take action to increase capacity where it can.
Labels: bike parking, Metro, wmata
Thursday, May 17, 2012
College Park "Bike 'N Ride" station opens
Yesterday WMATA opened their first Bike & Ride station at the College Park-U of MD Metro Station. Users gain access to the secure enclosed area using a BikeLink™ card that can be purchased online. Inside the facility are U racks and an experimental double-decker rack. Bikes are locked up once parked at a rack.
BikeLink™ cards cost $20 and have $20 of rental value stored on them. The cost of using the space is very reasonable, 5 cents per hour 8 am - midnight, 2 cents/hour all other times. With the lower overnight fees it's feasible to leave your bike overnight.
Check out this video featuring Justin Antos of WMATA's Office of Long Range Planning as he demonstrates using the facility:
Labels: bike and ride, bikelink, college park, justin antos, vienna metro, wmata
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Petition to repeal Metro's ban on bikes during rush hour
A petition is now available on Change.org to "Repeal the ban on bikes/ bicycles on the Metro during rush hour." Other transit systems have figured out how to accommodate bikes on their train systems during rush hour.
The operators of the Los Angeles system have developed a set of rules that apply to bicyclists to accommodate them during rush hour and all other times. The main rule covers the major objection to bikes on Metro during rush hour: "If an arriving train is full, please wait for the next train. Never force your bike into a crowded train." The LA Bike Metro site provides lots of great info for cyclists. It's an example for others.
As an aside, I learned about being able to take bikes on the LA Metro systems while reading the excellent interview with actor Ed Begley Jr. in Bicycle Times. Ed uses his bike for most trips around the city. He extends his range using Metro buses and trains. Unfortunately I couldn't find the interview online. See our blog post about riding with Ed when he was in town a few years ago.
Labels: ed begley jr., Metro, wmata
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
WMATA proposes to reduce locker fee to $120
There was a significant price increase a few years ago. According to TheWashCycle:
Two years ago, the annual fee was tripled, and Metro predicted that the price hike would bring in an extra $200,000 per year. Metro assumed that the demand for bike lockers was so inelastic that locker rentals would decline less than a 10%.
Cycling advocates suggested that the tripling would cause a sticker shock leading to widespread non-renewals, possibly enough to cause a net loss in revenues. I recommended to my then-Metro board member (Elizabeth Hewlitt) that increasing the cost to $100 would have made more sense and brought in more revenue. But Metro board members paid scant attention to this issue, possibly because of the small magnitude of revenues involved. (Nor was it a high priority for WABA, coming during the transition as Eric Gilliland moved on.)
I predict that this 40% price cut will cause a small increase in revenues, both because more lockers will be rented, and because having a bike locker will lead a few more cyclists to take Metro more often.
Cycling advocates suggested that the tripling would cause a sticker shock leading to widespread non-renewals, possibly enough to cause a net loss in revenues. I recommended to my then-Metro board member (Elizabeth Hewlitt) that increasing the cost to $100 would have made more sense and brought in more revenue. But Metro board members paid scant attention to this issue, possibly because of the small magnitude of revenues involved. (Nor was it a high priority for WABA, coming during the transition as Eric Gilliland moved on.)
I predict that this 40% price cut will cause a small increase in revenues, both because more lockers will be rented, and because having a bike locker will lead a few more cyclists to take Metro more often.
Labels: bike locker, wmata
Saturday, December 24, 2011
WMATA's planned bike and ped projects
WMATA has been very proactive recently in addressing the need for better bike access and parking at Metro stations. They added several new racks at the Vienna Metro station in November, installed a Bike & Ride facility at College Park and are planning a Bike & Ride facility at Franconia-Springfield. 
From the report:
In 2008, Congress passed legislation authorizing up to $1.5 billion in federal funds for Metro’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) over ten years. These funds are equally matched by Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia for a total of $3 billion over 10 years, or $300 million per year. One key provision is that 1% of these capital dollars must go to transit enhancements, which include pedestrian and bicycle improvements as well as bus shelters, landscaping/ beautification, public art, signage and improved access for persons with disabilities. This requirement provides a vehicle for funding bicycle and pedestrian access to Metro.
This document summarizes the bicycle and pedestrian element of Metro’s 2012-2017 CIP, detailing funding availability and project descriptions. Currently, $6.6 million is available in funding for bike and pedestrian access over the next five years of the CIP. This allocation is based on current available funding and priorities.
This document summarizes the bicycle and pedestrian element of Metro’s 2012-2017 CIP, detailing funding availability and project descriptions. Currently, $6.6 million is available in funding for bike and pedestrian access over the next five years of the CIP. This allocation is based on current available funding and priorities.
Labels: bike and ride, Metro, wmata
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Bike parking facility planned at Franconia-Springfield Metro Station
A similar bike parking facility, referred to as "Bike & Ride", is being constructed at the College Park Metro station. BikeLink is providing the parking system.
There will be approximately 30 U racks. WMATA is experimenting with two double-decker racks, similar to the Dero Decker, at the College Park station. If the single U racks are being used to capacity they can be replaced with additional double-decker racks. This could also be done at the Franconia-Metro station.
Access is controlled by a key card and hourly rates will be very affordable. The station will be accessible 24 hours, with a lower rate charged between evening and morning rush hours. This would allow commuters to arrive by Metrorail pick up their bike in the morning to ride to work. In the afternoon they would bike to the station from work to leave the bike overnight. A bicycle repair stand is also planned, similar to those installed in Cambridge, Mass.
Option 1 would require creating a new entrance where there is currently a wall. A new trail would also need to be built leading to the entrance. Another trail or sidewalk is needed to lead from the bike entrance to the station entrance since access through the garage is not planned.
Many cyclists also access the station from the south, parking on the opposite side of the tracks and walking into the station from there. There is limited room for expanding this parking.
This planned facility will be a great benefit to Metro patrons who bike to the station. We predict the racks will fill fast once people realize the benefits of having a secure, enclosed place to park their bikes. There are many other stations where this solution is needed, including Vienna and Dunn Loring, where the existing racks are often full and are not protected from the weather. This is a great step forward for WMATA.
We plan to visit the site in the near future to take a close look at the proposed locations. If you have comments on the proposed locations or on access to the locations, leave a comment here.
Labels: bike parking, bike station, wmata
Friday, August 12, 2011
WMATA counts bikes and racks at Metro stations
According to WMATA, they "counted bikes and racks at rail stations over a six-week window of peak usage from May 1 to June 15 for a “bike parking census.” Each station was counted on a sunny, warm day typically between 9:30am and 3:00pm. We wanted to learn about the general availability of and demand for bike parking in station areas. For these counts, we specifically excluded bike lockers and the Union Station Bikestation, and focused just on racks. We wanted to know how easy it would be for a new bike-to-rail customer to easily find bike parking near a station. We counted each U-Rack as space for 2 bikes, and used our best judgment for wave, grid, post-and-ring, and other racks.
Overall Findings
- 84 of our 86 stations have bicycle racks (all but Arlington Cemetery and Stadium-Armory)
- Bike-to-rail access seems to be up significantly over the last 5 years
- There is space to park 3,540 bicycles near Metrorail stations, and we saw 2,196 parked bicycles total
- Supply is not always matched to demand at a station-by-station level. Some stations are at or above capacity today, and additional bike-to-rail customers would be unable to find legitimate bicycle parking. Other stations have plenty of underused space. Racks at some stations are not aligned with demand – they have unused capacity on one side of the station, but overflowing racks on the other side.
- Stations where total bikes parked exceeded 100% of rack capacity: 12
- Even though a station may show some “empty spaces,” the racks may still be crowded enough that an average bicyclist would call the rack “full” in all practicality.
- Stations where we observed at least 3 bikes tied to things other than racks: 26
Labels: bike parking, bike racks, Metro, wmata
Friday, December 3, 2010
WMATA bike/ped access study online
As Metro plans for the future, expecting ridership to increase from a current average of about 750,000 trips per day to more than 1 million, the question of how so many new passengers will access our system is a critical one. Our most recent passenger survey estimates that about 39% of our riders arrive by car – either parking or being dropped off; 33% walk to our system; 22% take a bus; 4% by commuter rail and <1% arrive on bike. Accommodating those new riders with the same modal split as we see today could be quite costly for the region. Therefore, Metro decided to take a look at where we could improve our mode share for those modes that require fewer financial resources – namely bicycling and walking. In 2009, we began a study that would provide a framework to help us achieve these higher shares.
Perhaps the most interesting recommendation is for Metro to adopt a bicycle mode share goal through which we can measure our progress as we implement these recommendations. The recommendation is to triple the current bike share from .7% (about 1600 riders per day) to 2.1% by 2020 and quintuple it by 2030 – which equates to about 12,000 riders per day. In January we will discuss these goals with the Metro Board.
Metrorail Bicycle & Pedestrian Access Improvements Study – Final (18 MB, PDF)
Perhaps the most interesting recommendation is for Metro to adopt a bicycle mode share goal through which we can measure our progress as we implement these recommendations. The recommendation is to triple the current bike share from .7% (about 1600 riders per day) to 2.1% by 2020 and quintuple it by 2030 – which equates to about 12,000 riders per day. In January we will discuss these goals with the Metro Board.
